Of lavender and ivy
by pianoplayer01
Summary: In the mortal realm, a princess awaits barely knowing her fate, as mysterious dreams are haunting her, seemingly triggered by the eyes of a barn owl. Has our princess truly forgotten her true mission in life, or the man she must now learn to love?
1. Prologue

Prologue

"I have loved you past present and future, and I will love you even when time consumes us all, and there is nothing left but the ashes of what could have been"

She is running from his voice, through the branches that snap under her feet, crackling like fire as they consume the silence, feeding on the gentle wind her scurrying feet leave behind.

"Believe me, I am all around you, I need you like you need the air…"

Her vision is fast, taking in the tree bark as she avoids their tall shadows, her chest rising and falling heavily as she greedily gulps the air, pushing on and on, not remembering why she is running, only knowing, there is some thing out there amongst the bleak winter morning and the dew that breathes on the ground.

"… and I am the air you need"

The voice is nearer this time, beside her ear, it causes warmth to collect, whisking her hair over her shoulder. She stops, paralysed, her arms don't move, her legs ignore her commands to keep going, to follow the bird song that is cast from the faraway Green finches.

"Don't fight, what you know is not meant to be fought", a voice whispers softly caressing her mind, jumbling the broken thoughts that keep trying to reconnect in to pieces to make a whole again.

Arms are slithering around her like ivy, holding her in place, but her paralysed limbs don't fight, as her breathing quickens and her eyes become wide and childlike with fear.

"Sarah" the voice hisses.

The pieces begin to reconnect, she remembers why she was running, she remembers every thing that has happened, and she remembers the loss, the war, the friendship, the look in his eyes when she turned away.

She remembers how she hurt him.

Pain branches through her body, her veins are numb, her dress dirtied and her hair floating in an alien cloud around her ghostly face, but she doesn't feel the scratches from the trees on her legs and arms.

She feels only grief, and loss, and anger, and ancient love.

As the stranger whispered her name, she screamed, in agony, writhing in torture, her paralysed limbs moving of their own accord as she screamed out in rage to the Gods above her, screaming for every thing they had taken, every thing fate had shown her to be.

"Sarah…."


	2. Chapter 1  all the time in the world

Sarah sat by her window, the latch supporting the watery glass as her hair flickered gently away from her, cascading gently on the breeze on to the extended affectionate combing branches of the tree out side. 

Her hands were folded around some crumbs she had brought up stairs after supper, in order to feed the little birds that lived in the branches of then nearby tree.

Her hands reached out, scattering them like rain drops, as they fell to the sill beside the window in small circles.

As twilight drew near, she wrapped her arms around her body, the lace of her gown not doing much to warm her from the autumn weather, but her eyes betrayed nothing of feeling cold, they sought out ice as they burnt in to their victims soul.

The flickering green crystals scoured the surroundings and rested on that of a single white feather sprinkled with brown freckles.

Her hooded lids leapt at the sight, and her head jolted upwards, her back straightening from her previous relaxed position of leaning against the frame.

Her crimson lips parted as though to utter some thing, before remaining agape in silence. Her hands did not scatter crumbs as they had previously, instead they folded in her lap and she focused with every ounce of energy on the world out side, glaring at each individual branch up on the ground as though they were hiding secrets.

Seeing nothing out of line, other than the single feather, she breathed out, though she did not realise she had been holding her breath, the warm air flushing her ivory skin with a rosy sugar.

Her hand was wary in its path, her eyes still aware, and yet sparkling with curiosity and some unknown disappointment. Her fingers wound around the feather, brushing the soft material cautiously before pulling it back through the window and dropping it on to the vanity table at her side.

Her eyes once again scoured the darkening sky, before she sighed and rose from the window seat. Her hand reached out again, this time to remove the supporting latch and allow the pane of glass to close for the night.

How ever, for some reason, her face became set and defiant, as though facing a fear, and with clenched fists she backed away from the window towards the bed on the other side of the room.

As she blew out the candle on her dresser after reading for an hour, her eyes never once wandered from the pages to the window, but as she removed her slippers, and brushed her hair, she found her eyes darting again and again to the window, only to look away bashfully and disappointedly.

As she lay beneath the blankets in the darkness, not yet in the world of dreams, her eyes never once left the hole in the wall pressed with dainty glass, the wind blowing the silk curtains surrounding it forward, ghostly wails that haunted some hidden part of her heart.

As she slowly slid in to sleep, yet still was conscious enough to be awake, she allowed the words she had been thinking ever since she saw that feather fill her head.

Her eyes flickered, as she settled in to unconciousness, and in her head she heard the fluttering of wings and the cooeing of some kind of bird.

But she was far from the norm now, lost in the world of planets and stars, and all the unknown mysteries that stay in our heads lost in dreams beyond all we know.

But before she was completely gone from this world for the night, a single word escaped her lips, one word that is more dangerous than any language, or spell, or curse, or song ever written.

Her words almost sang it in its dainty whisper, like a final prayer from the lips of a dieing angel, but it was all that was necessary for the rest of our tale to take flight.

"Jareth"

The barn owl out side shivered, raised its face and gazed across at the window before stretching its wings and soaring to the sill, but it did not peck at the crumbs patterning it.

It hopped on to the carpets of the young girls room, and settled beside the wooden clock on the wall, gazing up at the hands, urging them to move more quickly, before resting its chin on its chest again.

Soon the clock would chime and the slumbering maiden would wake, but until then he could wait.

Humour danced in the owls ghostly eyes.

After all, he had all the time in the world.


	3. Chapter 2  the midnight hour

The clock chimed the midnight hour, and the frozen air swirled as Sarahs eye lids snapped open, her heart racing as she hastily propped herself up on her elbows.

Her eyes darted around the room and she caught sight of the open window, the stars winking at her in a friendly manner as a shiver trickled down her spine. Some thing crawled across her skin akin to suggesting some thing along the likes of a presence watching her, But the dark room hid no apparent strangers, and so cautiously she climbed out of bed, drawing her warm flannel robe over her night gown and adjusting her feet in to her slippers.

Approaching the moonlight drench window seat, her hand reached out and closed the window, with a gentle thump and click of the lock, after which she replace the key to the chain on her neck for safe keeping.

Some thing about the peace of the world as it lay sleeping captivated her and she found her legs buckling over the edge and her body drop softly on to the cushioned ledge, listening to the sound of nothing and delighting in the Ludo like roaring in her ears.

"My, what a pretty dove we have here, rather late though for your kind to be awake though I must say precious," a baritone voice whispered from the shadows. The little hairs on the back of her neck rose, along with her graceful silhouette as her eyes sought him out, and found him leaning against the wooden cuckoo clock on the left wall.

"How strange, you have never once been this silent in my presence, pray tell, precious, what has your tongue?" a wicked gleam filled his eyes, as he crossed one leg over the other, his arms following suite as his eyes drunk in her moon lit form.

"H-how… Why?..." she managed to get past her chattering teeth, to which his response was to cluck his tongue in disapproval and remove his cobalt cape, draping it around her shoulders, and despite herself she snuggled in to the satin material, absorbing the warmth with gratitude pouring from her eyes. At her reaction, he couldn't help but smile, the corners of his lips barely turned up, but all the same forming dimples in his high cheek bones and small laugh lines around his mismatched eyes.

Sarah was the first to break her gaze, "What are you doing here Jareth" she managed to state. She was not asking, she was demanding her answer.

He sighed, mentally groaning at his stupidity for not being nearly cruel enough to state that he did not answer to her or any one. But still, his own stupidity was losing his heart to a mortal maiden but four years previously, when she had reached the middle of his labyrinth, hence metaphorically finding his heart, and making him hers and her equal eternally from that point onwards, but of course he could never respond with that, that answer would never please her. To her he was no dream weaver, only dream stealer and catcher of children. To her he was the dealer of games.

"Why my dear must you always assume I have purpose?" he questioned, his eyes seeking her lowered lids. "Am I not allowed to call a visit upon my beautiful champion every so often?" his voice was low and emotionless, she could not tell whether his words were flattery or lies shrouded in elfin mischief.

"You have never visited before" she mumbled, turning from him back to the window, to gaze upon the tree out side, her interest switching from the gentle rows of the wooden floor panels to the branches dancing on the breeze.

His breath was on her shoulder and she shivered again. "That's because you never called" was his smooth response.

She turned to him confusion evident upon her pretty fore head, creased in concentration as she tried to recall this call to him he suggested she had made, but none came to mind.

"I have not called you since my journey through the labyrinth, I learnt my lesson" panic suddenly flamed in her eyes like wild fire " I have not wished any one away so please, do not take them, take me, none of them have done any thing wrong"

He smirked at her panic stricken face and breathed soothingly "Relax Sarah, I have not come with intention to take any one back to my kingdom just yet," he smiled, his pointed canines showing sharply in his smile, but Sarah did not reciprocate, she remained still, only relaxing her posture slightly when he claimed not to be here for the life of any one, and that her tired form did not have to run the deserted and never ending labyrinth of so long ago again.

"Why must you always expect the worst in me? Or assume I am here with intentions to take some thing or give only to receive?" he demanded incredulously but, she simply smirked at him as he so often did to her.

"You haven't answered my own question yet, and I believe it was proposed first in our little conversation" she dared, her sharp tongue daring him to say some thing to rekindle that anger he only knew so well from her battle to reclaim her brothers right to freedom.

He sighed for the one millionth time that evening and leaned his head back against the wall, rolling his eyes back in his head trying to remember where their conversation had been wandering previously, this question asked so recently by Sarah that he had already seemed to have forgotten.

_How she intoxicates you _his mind whispered suggestively, but he continued with his train of thought, before the question returned clearly in his mind, but a few moments later.

He pushed off from the wall, and Sarahs eyes became emotionless as he began to prowl around her still small frame. He loved how she did not cower, ever a warrior her stance did not fall, and she remained brave even though her fearful aura was evident to his all seeing eyes.

"Are you familiar with the works of a Mr. J. M. Barrie?" Jareth asked curiously, almost as though this was the conversation of two friends in a coffee shop, discussing old memories over a shared mug and a few muffins. Of course though, this conversation was far from a normal pleasant reunion.

"Im sorry?" Sarah asked puzzled, to which he restated his question.

"I have not heard of this man, though you should know that one you still have not answer my question and also, two, you may not be aware of that fact, but medieval authors are not widely popular in reading material up here."

And so Jareth explained the story of the classic author, who wrote stories for children on the world of neverland and Peter pan, the stories of the childrens adventures themselves when they found themselves with this immortal free spirit who took them to the land of dreams and allowed them to live their stories and realities for what seemed an infinite time, before the eldest child Wendy realised she was forgetting her own home, and after a series of events managed to get her and her brothers home safely, promising Peter that she would try her best not to grow up which, of course in the end she had to.

Sarah listened to his speech, and watched him once he had finished waiting for him to expand on this with some thing more, but Jareth simply continued walking in smaller and smaller circles around her, his closeness making her heart beat in her chest like a hammer against cloth.

"I still don't see what this has to do with me, or my calling you for that fact" she whispered, in awe from his clear passion in this story that some one had written of his world and their belief in it.

"You remind me of Wendy you know Sarah, so naive and even in adult hood willing to believe in a place that to others is but a figment of colour and imagination" he smiled, but hid it with his signature smirk before she could see.

Sarah held her breath in anticipation, biting her lip in order to stop herself from blurting out an insult she so badly wanted to hurl in order to get a response, but she needed to remain calm.

"Get to the point Jareth" she stated simply instead, in a seemingly bored and tired fashion. In response, he was by her side, his hands on her shoulders, causing electricity which she tried to ignore, and failed in her first attempt, a blush smothering her face.

"My point is Sarah, that before Peter left Wendy he stated this one fact very clearly: that in between the space where there is sleep and yet still being technically awake, where he could still remember dreaming, her would think of her, in that precious God like space, where he could recapture any thing and every thing in the world he chose her, so that he would not forget though he knew she would" some thing of affection had crept in to his tone, as his hand moved slowly, his finger tips tracing her cheek bone, to which Sarah sighed contentedly.

"That's… Nice I guess, but what does that have to do with your being here?" she enquired to which he pulled back his fingers slowly and inhaled through his nose as her blindness to all he had just shared with her.

"My point is Sarah, this evening when you resided to slumber, for the first time in years you opened up your senses and were not afraid to dream, in fact you wanted to dream of your favourite place in the under world, my world, the labyrinth I created and all its inhabitants."

"My dreams are always of that world and my time there" she responded confusion darkening her eyes.

He smiled radiantly back at her, as her eyes widened with shock and she mouthed an "oh" blinking as she tried to reclaim her train of thought.

His heart beat sped up alongside hers as he spoke what he knew was not necessary.

"Yet Sarah, despite your many dreams of your home you have never included me not once" the hurt crept in to his tone, to which she hung her head in defeat.

"But this evening, for some reason you and I are still yet to uncover was different from every other"

His voice was cooing now, almost like an adult to a baby they found adorable.

"For this evening, in your precious moment where you could dream of any one and any thing, you dreamt of me, you asked for me, when dreams and reality were at the point of togetherness"

His eyes lit up at this fact and Sarah stared blankly at him, shell shocked.

"And you spoke your wish"

He leaned forward, whispering in her ear

"I must always obey the wishers commands"


End file.
